Tar Sands Resolutions Send Message Of Concern Over Climate Change

Brian Ogilby (left) and Nancy Smith in front of Montpelier's city hall urge support for a resolution against transporting tar sands oil through Vermont.

Along with the debates over
school budgets and tax rates, some two dozen towns tackled oil companies and the
global issue of climate change.

Twenty-eight towns went on record opposing the shipment of tar sands oil across Vermont. Activists argue that extracting the oil poses an
unacceptable risk for the planet.

The organizers hope the
non-binding resolutions will send a message to Montpelier and Washington.

Climate change activists are
concerned that oil companies will use an existing pipeline that cuts across
northern New England to move the oil from western Canada for export via Portland, Maine.

Nancy Smith was trying to
rally support outside Montpelier's city hall for the anti-tar sands resolution on the
ballot.

"The pipeline is 60 years old,"
she said. "It's not designed to transport an abrasive and highly toxic
substance that could destroy it. If that stuff breaks through the pipeline and
it leaks into the water system, it would be absolutely disastrous."

Because the ground has to be
heated to release the oil, environmentalists say that extracting the tar sands
releases three to five times more greenhouse gases than conventional oil drilling.

Andy Simon is an organizer
with 350Vt.org. He said it's important for Vermont to send a message against tar sands.

"We want to remind the
lawmakers and the rule makers that it's the voice of the people that counts,"
he said. "And this is a way of expressing it, here in Vermont in particular with our system of direct democracy."

The Portland pipeline cuts through 10 towns in the Northeast Kingdom. It's now used to ship oil west, from Maine to Montreal. But Larry Wilson, the president of the pipeline
corporation, told Vermont lawmakers recently that he's aggressively looking for
new business, including shipping the Canadian tar sands. He said the heavy
crude does not pose a challenge for the pipeline.

None of the towns the
pipeline crosses had the resolution before voters. Simon said those towns may
vote next year.

"The people we talked to in
those towns when we were walking along the pipeline last summer were very much
interested in finding out more information about it," he said. "And it's this spring
and summer we'll be up there providing that information... If we do this
resolution again next year you can be sure that there will be resolutions in
those pipeline towns."

The town meeting day votes
drew the attention of officials from the Canadian consul's office. They wrote
to several Vermont selectboards to assure them the technology is safe.

The environment minister of Alberta also stopped by the Statehouse recently to talk about
the benefits of tar sands.

Simon said the notice from Canada is a good sign for the anti-tar sands movement.

"They would not be down here
if they were not worried about the opposition that's growing in New England, and in Quebec, to changing the direction of this pipeline and
shipping tar sands products through it," he said.

The non-binding resolution puts
the town on record in opposition to transporting tar sands through the state.
It also says the town should use fuel vendors who buy oil from refineries that
do not use tar sands.